The present disclosure relates generally to packaging of electrical devices and techniques for attachment to a circuit board or integrated circuit. More specifically, techniques for the design and fabrication of electrical terminations and/or connections of that may be used for surface-mount technologies (SMT) and other packaging standards and techniques are described.
This section is intended to introduce the reader to various aspects of art that may be related to various aspects of the present disclosure, which are described and/or claimed below. This discussion is believed to be helpful in providing the reader with background information to facilitate a better understanding of the various aspects of the present disclosure. Accordingly, it should be understood that these statements are to be read in this light, and not as admissions of prior art.
Proper attachment of an electrical component to a printed circuit board (PCB) may employ an electrical pad on the PCB with a footprint that corresponds to the metallization located in the bottom of the electrical component. The footprint shape may also depend on a mount technique standard and/or the method to mount the electrical component to the PCB. For example, in electrical components that may use a surface-mount technique (SMT) the metallization on the bottom of SMT components usually extend from one end of the device to the other. As a result, the SMT pad on the PCB, as well as the corresponding solder junction between the SMT component and the PCB, may have a large footprint having a large metallization area.
During the process of attaching electrical components to the PCB, separation between neighboring electrical pads may be useful to prevent fabrication damages. For example, if two neighboring electrical pads are too close, the soldering process may result in the generation of an unintended short-circuit from residuals of the solder flux (e.g., solder bridging). The potential for solder bridging may increase the minimum distance between two neighboring electrical components, and consequently, limit the component density in the PCB. This may lead to electrical devices with large PCBs.